A Starkid Summer Vacation
by Ari Starkid
Summary: The Starkids go on vacation together! Contains Breredith, Laurwalk, maybe Crisspez. Can they handle it? Romance and friendship and jokes will ensue! T because I'm paranoid.
1. Breredith and a Surprise

**A/N-This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction in a while so I'm not sure how its going to turn out. It's based off of the recent Breredith thingy with Joe Walker. Right now it's going to be just a one-shot but that could change in the future.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Starkid, They would not be in LA and Chicago... They would be in my closet.**

Meredith Stepien logged onto Twitter for the first time in a few days. Nannying had kept her so busy that she hadn't had time for fans for a couple days. The first thing she noticed was the unusually large amounts of tweets for her. The first one was:

_ ghostydiddy Brian_Holden Is it true? Congratulations! #Breredith #JMOMS _

Followed by:

_ ghostydiddy Brian_Holden OMG! I CAN'T BREATHE RIGHT NOW! BREREDITH IS SO REAL! #breredith #JMOMS_

There were several similar ones. All directed at her, Brian Holden, or Joe Walker. Meredith and Brian had been dating for about a year now but, had been careful around fans, well maybe not to careful. They knew the fans were good people but they could get a little "opinionated" on stuff like this and that usually caused problems for all involved. They also saw no reason for their relationship to be the subject of blog after blog after blog. There was always a steady stream of shippers but the amount of tweets right now was unprecedented. Something must have started it.

Meredith went onto Tumblr and searched the tag Breredith. She saw a post labeled "Joe Walker confirms Breredith at JMOMS" followed by a video. In a panic she picked up her cell and dialed Brian's number.

"Hello?"

"It Meredith."

"What's up Mere?"

"Have you been on Twitter in the last couple days?"

"No, Why?"

"Don't go on. Joe outed us."

"Joe?"

"Walker. A fan asked him about us at JMOMS and he told her everything!"

"Mere. Calm down, this is not the end of the world. We'll just have a little talk with Joe today at rehearsal and get this whole thing straightened out."

"How? Joe can't unsay that now! The fans aren't going to just forget it!"

"So, then we can address it. We can't hide forever… Eventually we were going to have to tell them."

"I know. Can you take me to rehearsal? Jaime took my car."

"Sure. See you in 15. Love you!"

"Love you too! Bye."

Meredith hung up the phone and went to get dressed. She chose jeans, black converse, and a red and blue striped hoodie. She braided her hair in a French braid and put on a pair of signature Starkid sunglasses. She walked out into the hallway and promptly tripped over something on her way to the kitchen. She looked down to see what had caused her fall. It was a suitcase. It looked very familiar to Meredith. She was sure she had seen it somewhere but, couldn't put her finger on it. The suitcase wasn't strange. Most of the Starkids had keys to her apartment and they were always looking for places to stay. She knew it wasn't Lauren's, hers was pink. Jaime's was light blue. Julia was out of town. She began going through the boys. Her train of thought was interrupted by the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen. She walked in to see a very familiar grin on a very familiar face.

"Darren!" Meredith ran into a hug, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be filming?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my friends? And we wrapped the season yesterday so I'm off for the summer. Is there something you wanted to tell me?" He said teasingly gently separating himself from her and looking her over.

"Nooooo."

"Nothing important had happened in your life in the last year or so? No, boyfriend?"

"You saw that?" Meredith sat down in a chair looking suddenly less excited.

Darren sat next to her and handed her a coffee, "Yeah. I think the whole fandom knows by now. Was it a secret thing?"

"Yes. No. Sorta. The fans were in the dark but the Team knew. I'm going to kill Walker. Stupid. Stupid man."

"Why didn't you tell the fans?"

"You know how they get. They can be a little overexcited. This is the stuff that tears fandoms and couples apart. Just the stress of the fans knowing is enough sometimes."

"Does Brian know?"

"Yeah, he sees pretty cal—Shoot! Brian's taking me to rehearsal today. Are you coming?"

"I guess."

The pair made their way down the stairs to the lobby and walked outside were Brian was parked.

"Hey, Brian!" Meredith said running to the window, "Look who decided to drop by!" Darren stuck his head in the window and smiled widely at Brian.

"Get in, both of you! We're going to be late." Brian said revving up the engine.

"Yeah, because everyone's on time to rehearsal." Darren muttered under his breath.

"Darren, how's LA been treating you?" Brian asked as he made the all to familiar journey to the theatre,

"Its been fine. I'm more interested in you and Meredith. She's going to kill Walker. Like when did it start? I need details guys!"

Meredith laughed, "You're almost as bad as the fans! Look we're here."

The trio got out of the car laughing and joking around. Darren and Brian picked up Meredith and carried her in as she kicked and screamed for them to put her down. They let her down right before they entered the actual rehearsal space. By the time they got inside they were the last ones there, as usual.

"Where the hell is Walker?" Meredith asked angrily.

"Careful everyone." Darren said peeking his head into the room, "Meredith's on a war path!"

"Darren!" Was heard throughout the room as everyone dropped what they were doing to hug their friend.

"Hey guys!" Darren said, "I'm free all summer! What's the plan?"

"The plan? The plan! The plan is to freakin' kill Walker! Where is the little shit?"

"Don't kill me please…" Joe appeared in the doorway, "You need me."

"I cannot believe you told the fans! What in the world were you thinking?"

"What was I supposed to do? Lie? Give some confusing cryptic answer?" Joe responded now shouting himself.

"I don't know!" Meredith sat on the floor, looking defeated, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"You are forgiven." Joe sat on the floor next to her, "What do you wanna do now?"

"I think I'm either gonna tweet or do a video about it. I have to do something."

-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-

Meredith sat in front of her laptop. Brian was sitting next to her holding her hand. She turned the camera on and started recording.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Yeah, it is. OK. So this is a video addressing the whole JMOMS thing." Meredith started.

"We figured that you guys deserve and explanation not just a random announcement-ish thing from Joe. And since you already know…" Brian continued

"So, we are confirming that we are dating. No Joe was not messing with you. We started dating around the time of SPACE tour. Joe was wrong to answer the question the way he did. I just wanted to make it clear that he did not have permission to tell anyone that."

"'We did want to give you something since we have tortured you for years here." Brian concluded. He leaned over and kissed Meredith then turned off the camera.

**A/N-What did you guys thing? Chapter 2? Review, Review, Review! You will get imaginary Redvines!**


	2. The Departure

**A/N- I hope you all enjoyed chapter one! If it seems a little weird that's because I wrote it at 1am, I'm not at my best at 1am. Sorry about the mistake that Little Miss Witterer found. It was Joe Walker who outed Breredith not Joe Moses. I don't know why I put Joe Moses. Probably because I thought JMOMS=Moses. That has been fixed though. Also, I am so, so sorry that I didn't upload last night/early morning. I got caught up in reading fanfiction and tumblr. So, here we go!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the Starkids, I wouldn't spend my whole day on tumblr.**

Today was their last day of rehearsal. The Lang brothers had ended early so they could collect all their stuff. The Starkids were running around picking up jackets and sodas and makeup. They had rented a bus and tomorrow the plan was to go on a road trip. It wasn't like their tour bus though. For one thing, they had no bus driver so they were going to take turns driving. It was basically a shuttle bus. They would be staying in hotels at night. The downside was there was no bathroom, which meant they would have to stop every time someone had to go.

Lauren and Jaime left in a hurry to go get Julia from the train station. She had been visiting her family in Cincinnati since they would not be seeing each other all summer. Their other roommate Melissa would not be joining them as she had to go to Leakycon in a few weeks. She tended to forget to buy food so the other girls decided to go shopping at Costco after they got Julia to buy groceries.

Pulling into the parking lot Julia asked, "Jaime are you going to keep an eye on Lauren in the store?"

Lauren rolled her eyes, "I don't need a babysitter!" she said from the backseat in a whiny voice.

"Yes you do." Came Jaime's reply, "We don't want a repeat of last time."

The last time the girls went to Costco they left Lauren alone for a few minutes and found her inside a shopping cart using a broom to "row" herself through the aisles while singing Granger Danger very loudly. Granted, she might have been slightly drunk at the time but they could never be too careful and she always got them into trouble.

When they went inside Jaime grabbed Lauren's arm with one had and a cart with the other. Julia went to collect snacks for the trip while Jaime and Lauren headed towards the fruits and vegetables, much to Lauren's disappointment. They in the end bought about $200 in food, which would last Melissa about a month.

-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-

Meredith was not a morning person. The rest of the group had insisted that they start driving early so her alarm rang at 6:45. She rolled out of bed and into the shower. She emerged fifteen minutes later still half asleep. Walking into the hallway, she tripped on a suitcase.

"Darren freakin' Criss! Get your fucking suitcase out of my hallway!"

"Okay, mom. Good morning to you too." He dragged his suitcase to the door. He had crashed on her couch being unable to find a place to stay at any of the guys' apartments. He walked back to the kitchen humming the tune to "Kick it up a Notch"

"Tell me you have coffee."

"Sorry? We can stop on the way." He extracted a large plastic bag full of food from the cabinets.

"What's that?" Meredith asked. Having accepted that coffee was not happening today.

"Its some food." She looked inside.

"This is too cute! You like her!"

"I do not!"

"Darren and Lauren sitting in a tree K-I-S-S—" She said in a singsong voice.

"Stop it! I do not have a crush on Lauren!"

"Don't try to hide it! I know you like her! I bet you want her to move to LA with you and get married and have little irritating children who sing all the time." Her phone rang, "Hey Brian. We're coming. Yeah you know just talking about Darren's huge crush on Lauren… I didn't know either. Haha yeah. See you then. Bye." She hung up.

"I think I'm gonna take a cab." Darren got up and went into the hall. He grabbed his suitcase and walked out. Leaving Meredith alone in the apartment.

He arrived at the bus in time to see Lauren, Jaime, and Julia getting out of the car. He watched Lauren struggle as she dragged her huge pink suitcase across the parking lot to the bus. Normally this would have made him laugh but the incident with Meredith this morning put him in a bad mood.

"Hey, Dare!" an out-of-breath Lauren said when she reached him, "Why the sad face?" She reached her fingers up and twisted his mouth into a smile, "Much better!"

"Darren." Julia walked up to him, "Are you okay? Where's Meredith?"

"I'm fine." He said quietly, "Meredith was going slowly." She looked at him with a sad smile. Darren knew Julia didn't believe him for a second. She was like the mom of the group. Always responsible and keeping them in line. You couldn't hid anything from Julia she always knew when something was wrong. He looked over to see where Jaime was. Meredith had just arrived and Jaime was waiting for her to get out of the car. He turned around and got on the bus.

"Hey Mere!" Jaime said, "Uh-oh! That's not the face of a happy in-love person who's about to go on vacation… What's up?"

"I was teasing Darren this morning and I think I might have gone a little to far."

"What did you say? Was it a Glee joke?"

"Nope. He had a bag full of food so I looked in it and it was gluten-free stuff. I told him I thought it was adorable and started to joke around about him having a crush on Lauren."

"I know Darren. That's enough to upset him but he would never walk out over that."

"Yeah. But then, Brian called."

"You didn't?"

"I didn't mean to but it sorta just came out of my mouth. Darren looked really mad and he just left."

"Have you talked to Brian?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this. Brian tells Walker, Walker tells Moses, Moses tells Nick, who tells Julia… You know what happens next right?'

"Yeah. Julia tells Lauren. And then Darren hates me forever."

"I'm not sure that Darren even knows if he likes Lauren right now. I know he has feelings for Julia and Lauren has feelings for Walker."

"Yeah. Wait what? Julia and Darren? Lauren and Walker?"

"Yeah. I think Darren wants to talk to you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Don't look now but he's been staring at us this whole time."

"I'm just gonna talk to him." The duo walked towards the rest of the gang. By now everyone was there and fighting about who would drive.

"I'll drive." Nick Lang said.

"Nooooo, I wanna do it!" Lauren responded.

There was a resounding no and the crowd erupted into chaos as each Starkid tried to convince the others to let them drive.

"Julia's driving."

"What?" asked Joe Walker.

"Julia's driving." A little louder. The group saw that Darren had said it.

"Ummm… NO!" said Julia. She really wanted to find out what was up with Darren. He wasn't himself and it worried her. Any sort of Darren other than happy Darren was a bad sign.

"Please? Jules, you're the best driver and these lunatic will probably kill us."

"Fine." Julia climbed into the drivers seat and honked the horn, "All aboard!"

The Starkids clamored aboard eager to start their own adventure.

**A/N-This turned out longer than I expected. What'd you guys think? Another update later tonight. Perhaps after midnight to prove I'm still alive… Anyways review, review** **and I will give you imaginary Double Stuff!**


	3. Making Up and McDonalds

**A/N-So in the last chapter my shipping brain went crazy. I was having trouble choosing ships so it said, "Ship all the ships!" and that's what happened. I also just realized that Denise Donovan was awkwardly left out of my story… Oops! I'm fixing that in this chapter. **

**Tearofaclown: Darren feels like Meredith went a bit far with the Lauren thing and is upset that she told Brian because he doesn't want everyone to find out. It was mostly just Darren over reacting though.**

**Here we gooooo!**

Meredith made her way to the back of the bus. Darren accordingly sat in the passenger seat next to Julia. The girls ended up all sitting in the back and the boys in the middle of the bus. Lauren sat next to Meredith and Denise sat next to Jaime. Lauren turned to Meredith.

"Things seem a little tense between you and Darren, Is everything OK?"

"Its-Its fine." Meredith responded quietly.

"It doesn't look fine. It looks like you two are fighting."

"We're not."

"What's going on?"

"Its nothing." She shot Denise a glance that said "Save me!"

"I got some really cute nail polish the other day!" Denise said, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh, really?" Asked Jaime, all too happy to be off the Darren thing.

"Yeah, I got it from that place…"

"Hey, Brian!" Meredith yelled, "Check your phone!"

_Meredith: dont tell any1 wat i told u in the morn dare is mad & i dont wanna make worse._

_Brian: mkay do u wanna talk bout it? u seem pretty upset that ur fighting_

_Meredith: l8r the hotel_

_Brian: 3 u & know dare does to_

_Meredith: thanx bri ily_

Julia glanced over at Darren, "What's wrong with you?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"That's the third time you've looked at me in the last five minutes. If you wanna say something, say it!"

"I'm just worried about you that's all."

"Yeah? Well you can stop worrying! I'm fine!"

"Okay. But, if you're ever not fine or if you need anything, you can always come to me."

They decided to stop over night in Ohio. After a small argument over hotels they settled on an economic yet nice hotel near the Denny's. The rooms went like this Meredith and Brian, Jaime and Denise, Julia and Lauren, Joey and Darren, the Langs, the Joes, and Jim and Brian. Once everyone was in their rooms, Meredith walked right up to Darren's room and knocked. Joey answered.

"Joey, Beat it!" She told him as she walked in. Joey ran out and went right into her room to chat with Brian.

"Darren, I'm really sorry. I took the whole thing too far. I never should have told Brian. I talked to him and he promises not to tell anyone. And—"

"You're forgiven."

"What? Just like that?"

"I over reacted and I was scared Brian would tell everyone. But, you two wouldn't tell anyone."

"Yeah, I sorta told Jaime. But, she won't tell anyone or I'll tell people about her 'crush'."

"Fine. Hug it out?"

They leaned in for a hug and Joey and Brian walked it.

"Whoa!" said Joey, "Either you're a really good apologizer or you two weren't fighting."

Brian looked at Meredith and mouthed _You ok?_ She nodded and separated herself from Darren. Then she and Brian made their way back to their room and went to sleep.

-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-

The next day when they got on the bus there was noticeably less tension. They had been driving along peacefully for about an hour when suddenly Lauren yelled from the back, "I gotta pee!" There was a loud groan.

"Already? Come on Lauren, we just left!" came Julia's reply.

"Awww… Leave her alone, Its not her fault she's got the bladder of a squirrel." Brian called out.

"OK we're getting off here so Lauren can pee." They stopped at a McDonald's. "Everybody out!"

Lauren made a beeline for the bathroom and everyone else got in line for food. They sat down and a few minutes later Lauren came back. She sat a few tables away from them and pulled out a laptop. Darren looked over at her. She was intently looking at something and ignoring everything else. He knew exactly what was going on. The whole gluten-free thing was hard for her and she couldn't really eat at places like this. Usually Julia made sure they stopped somewhere that wouldn't make her uncomfortable but for some reason she had chosen Mcdonalds. Darren walked over to her.

"Hey!" He slid into the booth next to her, "Whatcha doing?"

"Twitter."

Darren leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes sparkled.

"Lets do it!"

"OK we have to wait until they're not looking…" Darren always knew how to make her feel better.

The moment the Starkids looked away the two of them got up. They calmly walked across the restaurant and into the kiddie slides area. The duo climbed the stairs and began to play on the equipment, laughing and fooling around.

Meanwhile the rest of the Starkids had a situation of their own. Brian and Meredith had decided to start making out right in the middle of the restaurant.

"Come on guys! Stop! Or at least get back on the bus!" Joey complained.

An employee walked up to Julia, "I'm sorry but, we're going to have to ask you to collect your friends and leave. You're being disruptive."

"Oh, I'll just make them stop. Brian, Meredith please stop kissing or we're going to be kicked out." She responded.

"Those aren't the friends we were referring to." She gestured to Darren and Lauren who were currently hanging from the playset.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Darren Criss and Lauren Lopez get your butts over here right now!" she yelled from across the restaurant.

"Uh oh!" Darren said to Lauren, "Mama's angry."

"It was Darren's idea!" Lauren said the moment they reached Julia.

"Gee, thanks!" Darren replied sarcastically.

"I don't care whose idea it was! It was stupid and immature!" The two offenders cowered in fear. While they knew Julia wasn't really that mad she was pretty intimidating, "Get back on the bus!"

The Starkids ran back to the bus and got on board.

"Oh, Lauren." Darren said, "I almost forgot. I picked up some stuff for you at the grocery store before we left." He handed her the bag.

"Thanks." She gave him a hug and they sat down together in a row.

Julia looked back at them. "Absolutely not! Darren up here next to me, Lauren back of the bus! I won't have you two planning anything." The two looked at each other and smiled before doing as Julia said.

**A/N-Hope you liked it! I had some major writers block last night so that's why its going up today. But it did go up! I may or may not post tomorrow **** I'm pretty busy on Saturdays.**


	4. NYC Pt 1

**A/N- Happy Christmas Eve's Eve! We survived the apocalypse! Thanks for the interest in the story guys! I already have crazy plans for a sequel to this. This chapter… Well you'll see. Keep an eye out for my other story. I will be uploading the first chapter in the next few days. It's a Laurwalk, Darren/Julia, drama, angsty type thingy. Yay! Here's chapter 4! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Starkid, I would not have spent my afternoon making a Hogwarts gingerbread house (which was a complete failure and bears no resemblance to Hogwarts at all).**

Joe Walker looked over at Lauren. She had headphones on and was nodding her head to the beat of the song. She was munching on some cookies.

"Dude, if you like her go get her." Joey said.

"I don't like her."

"You can tell from a mile off bro." Joe Moses said, "Just ask her out. What's she gonna say, no?"

"Fine. But, if I embarrass myself its your fault!" He walked over and sat in the seat next to her.

"Lauren." Joe said, trying to get her attention. No response.

"Lauren!" A little louder.

"LAUREN!" He yelled.

"Yeah?" Lauren turned to face him pulling out her headphones.

"She can hear. It's a miracle!"

"No need to get sassy."

"You're one to talk. Where'd you get the cookies?"

"Darren."

"That was… Thoughtful of him."

"Did you come over here for a reason Walker?"

"Yeah, we're ummm… going to be in New York in a few hours and…"

"Just spit it out Joe."

"I was wondering if ummm…"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes. You were going to ask me out right? My answer is yes. I would love to go on a date with you."

"That's a relief. The way you were acting with Darren…"

"Darren and I are just friends."

"Does he know that?"

Lauren thought about it for a minute. Darren had been acting weird since he had come back. Did he like her? She remembered the awful phase she went through during college when she had a crush on Darren. All the girls had liked him at some point. He always found out though. He made it clear he wasn't interested and eventually it all blew over. He wasn't really dating material. His personality made him a better friend, "I think so." She responded.

"Okay. I'll pick you up from your hotel room tonight at 8." He went back and sat with the guys who high-fived him and slapped him on the back.

"You guys!" Lauren said to the girls, "Joe just asked me out!"

Jaime and Meredith exchanged a look.

"What?" She said questioningly.

"Nothing." They said together.

"You've been hiding something from everyone since we left. What's going on?"

Denise shot them a 'you owe me' look, "They had a secret girls night planned tonight. But, since you're going on that date I guess they'll have to reschedule it."

"Oh, that's what you two have been talking about. Maybe another night, in DC maybe."

"Umm… Yeah that's fine." Meredith said looking flustered.

"Cool."

-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-

Joe was at the girls room at exactly eight. Jaime, Meredith, and Denise pushed her out the door and into his arms. Julia had gone somewhere alone, they suspected she was planning something for the next day.

"Bye Lo have fun!" Jaime said.

"Joseph Walker, you had better have her home by midnight. If she comes back crying I will personally have Jim behead you." Meredith said sternly.

"Ok, Ms. Stepien." Joe responded jokingly.

"Bye LoLo." Denise said and closed the door. She turned to the other two girls, "I have saved your asses twice on this trip. Now tell me, what the hell is going on? And why is it so important that Lauren not know?"

"Sit." Meredith said as the three sat on the bed. Denise looked at Jaime first.

"Its not my story to tell. It was all Meredith."

"Ok, so, basically Darren likes Lauren. Only Brian, Jaime, you, and I know. Don't you dare tell Lauren." Meredith summarized.

"But, Lauren's going out with Joe."

"That's not our problem."

"But…"

"No. We aren't going to do anything. It's none of our business. It's not our problem. It's between Darren, Lauren, and Joe."

"Fine. Whatever. Where's Julia?"

"She wouldn't say. She's been on the phone the entire bus ride here. She's planning something." Jaime said. The girls sat in silence for a while until the quiet was broken by Julia arriving.

"Where's Lo?" she asked.

"You miss stuff when you drive the bus and then disappear for hours." Denise said.

"I was busy. You guys will thank me later. But, seriously, where is she?"

"Date." Meredith responded.

"What? With who?"

"Joe Walker." Denise said.

"Really? That's interesting."

"Wanna watch a movie?" Jaime asked.

"What do you have?" Julia said.

"I've got ET, Whale Rider, To Kill a Mockingbird…"

"You're kidding me right?" Julia said looking at her with disbelief, "We saw those so many times on tour."

"Yeah, I have Titanic, The Notebook, Dear John… The works."

"Titanic." Was the resounding answer.

"I have a serious question, does anyone have candy?" Meredith asked.

"You're in luck" Julia answered, "I have a humongous bag of M&Ms!"

The girls lay on the bed and began the movie. About halfway through someone knocked on the door. Julia opened it to find a grinning Lauren standing in front of Joe.

"Is Ms. Stepien here? I want her to see that I brought little Lo back here safely." He asked.

"What? Mere! Joe needs your approval."

"I trust that Lauren had a nice night." Meredith said arriving at the door, "You treated her well?"

"I had a lovely evening." Lauren responded. Jaime and Denise were giggling uncontrollably in the background while Julia just looked confused as to why Joe was acting like Meredith was Lauren's mom.

"Good night Lo. Ms. Stepien, have a nice evening." Joe said.

"Good night Joseph. Lauren darling, where are your manners? Kiss dear Joseph good night." Meredith said trying not to smile. Lauren face turned red and she kissed his cheek.

"Good night Joseph." The door closed and Joe walked away.

"That wasn't the kind of kiss I meant." Meredith said as soon as the door was closed.

"I know what you wanted to see. We're not doing that soon. We've decided to take it slow. See what happens. Oh, hey Jules. Where have you been?" Lauren walked in and helped herself to some M&Ms.

"Places. You didn't tell me you had a date."

"It was hard considering you were no where to be found this afternoon. Are we watching Titanic?"

"Yeah, we just got to the part where the boat starts to sink." Denise said dimming the lights and starting the movie again. The girls fell asleep about thirty minutes later in a pile of arms and legs on the bed, unable to stay awake for the rest of the movie. At about 3am, someone knocked. Lauren woke up instantly, being a light sleeper, and found herself lying under Julia's legs. She dislodged herself, causing Jaime to fall on the floor and wake up.

"God dammit Lauren! What are you trying to do? Wake up the whole hotel?" Denise asked having now woken up from the commotion.

"There's someone at the door." Lauren got out of the bed and promptly tripped over Meredith who had fallen asleep on the floor. Meredith made a grunting noise, grabbed Lauren's leg, and pulled her to the ground. Jaime went to the door. She looked out the hole to see Brian looking back at her.

"Is everything ok in there?" he asked, "Can I come in?"

"Meredith! It's your stupid boyfriend! He's looking for you!"

"Let him in!" Came a reply from a tired Julia, "We're all awake now anyway."

Jaime opened the door and let Brian in, "What happened here?" he asked surveying the collection of bodies on the bed and on the floor.

"You knocked and Lauren happened!" Denise said, "Can you take your girlfriend and go now? That's why you're here right?"

"Umm… yeah. Mere? Where is she?" suddenly they head a screaming noise from under the bed.

"That would be her. She's trying to kill Lauren." Jaime said.

"Meredith, sweetie. Why don't you leave Lo alone and come back to our room?" He walked over to the other side of the room and pulled Meredith off Lauren, carrying her bridal style out of the room. Once they had left the girls got back into bed closed the lights and attempted to go back to sleep all grumbling about 'stupid Brian'.

**A/N-Whew! There's some Laurwalk for you guys. You can look forward to some more in the next chapter. In the next chapter I'm going to make the Darren/Julia situation a little more obvious and perhaps, maybe, possibly, no promises here, add some Joime. Anyway, review review!**


	5. NYC Pt 2

**A/N- Chapter 5. My new story has gone up since my last post. Its called "When Life Gets Too Hard". Its Julia-centric so that's a little different there aren't many of those. I'm not quite sure why I decided this should happen but I really want them to meet so I wrote it in. Here it goes.**

Late afternoon the next day the Starkids got on the subway. Julia instructed them to dress semi-formal so the guys had jackets on and the girl wore dresses. They got off at the Times Square stop and Julia led them into a theatre. Inside huge posters of Daniel Radcliffe looked at them from all sides. Julia walked up to an usher and handed him her tickets.

"Right down the hallway, first door."

"Thanks. Come on guys." They walked to the door he instructed, opened it, and emerged in a box.

"Classy." Lauren said impressed. She looked over the side and surveyed the audience, "Ohmigod!"

"What?" Darren came over to see what she was looking at.

"Don't stare. The box next to us." Darren looked over to see Tom Felton, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Bonnie Wright.

"Ok, guys you'll never guess who's next to us!" Darren told the others, "Lets just all stay calm so they don't think we're creepy." By now Lauren was practically on the outside of the box she was leaning so far over.

"Lo!" Julia called, "Don't lean over the railing like that!"

"Fine, mother!"

"Guys it's starting!" Nick informed them. They all scrambled to find their seats as the lights dimmed. They watched intrigued until intermission. When the lights came on there was a knock on the door. Meredith opened it because she was closest. An employee handed her a note. She opened it and read it aloud.

_Hi! I couldn't help but notice you were here tonight! If you don't have anything planned after the show I wanna meet you guys! I'll have someone bring you backstage when its over. –Dan._

"We're gonna meet Daniel Radcliffe!" Jaime said excitedly. After getting over the excitement Brian asked, " How long is intermission?"

"Its about thirty minutes here." Darren responded.

"We should sing. Let everyone know we're here!"

"Yeah!" The rest of the Starkids cheered.

"What should we do?"

"Going Back To Hogwarts!" Denise said, "It seems appropriate considering!"

"Good thing I'm prepared!" Darren pulled out a guitar.

"Do you go anywhere without it?" Julia asked teasing him.

"Shut up." Darren lightly punched her in the shoulder and started the first few chords, "We're gonna have to be really loud!

"_Underneath these stairs I hear the sneers…" _Darren sang.

It took a while but by the chorus some people in the audience had figured out what was going on and had begun to shush the others. They were quiet until Joey yelled, _"Cause together we're totally awesome!"_ Then they burst into song. The song finished and the Starkids yelled, "Thanks guys!" Lauren leaned over again and attempted to discreetly look at the Harry Potter stars who looked right back at her. She quickly moved herself back into the box.

"They're looking at us!"

"Who?" Joe asked.

"The cast of Harry Potter is looking at us! Tom Felton looked into my eyes!" Joe laughed. He thought that Lauren was so cute when she fangirled. He was about to make a joke about having an obsession with yourself but the lights dimmed again. When the show was over and employee came and collected them. They were led down a hallway and into Daniel's dressing room.

"Hey guys! I'm so excited to finally meet you!" Daniel said as he shook their hands, "I heard you led quite a sing-a-long during intermission."

"Yeah! Its crazy you know! To be able to go to a place like this and everyone knows your music!" Nick Lang said. Meanwhile in the background Lauren and Denise were pushing each other and whispering, "You do it!"

"Do you two have something you want to share with the class?" Julia asked them.

"No." They said together.

"This is ridiculous! I'll do it!" Meredith said, "Tom they want to tell you that they think you're hot."

"Thanks a lot Mere!" Lauren said.

"You two aren't bad yourselves." He told them, "I actually have a question for you." He gestured to Lauren, "Are you Lauren Lopez?"

"Yes!" She looked at Denise and mouthed, "He knows who I am!"

"Hi! I wanted to say that I enjoyed what you did with Draco in the musicals!"

"Thanks." Right then Joey walked up to Rupert Grint.

"Don't do it." Julia told him.

"Wanna Red Vine?" Joey pulled a package out of his pocket and looked at an imaginary camera.

"Yeah!" Rupert responded surprising everyone, "They're like the best snack in the whole world!" They mingled for a bit and then Julia announced they had to leave. They said their goodbyes and headed to the restaurant Julia had selected. They ate dinner and decided to wait a bit for dessert. Joe took Lauren out onto a balcony to look at the city.

"Its beautiful!" Lauren exclaimed.

"Its nothing compared to you." Joe stated calmly as he leaned in and kissed her. Neither of them noticed Darren watching from the door. He ran back to the table he was sitting at with Julia.

"Darren what's wrong?" Julia asked noticing he was upset.

"Lauren and I, I thought we had something, apparently not. She clearly prefers Joe over me."

"I'm sorry Darren." Julia hated seeing Darren in pain. She knew now, though. He didn't feel the way she did. She knew the closest she would get to him would be a friend.

**A/N-Hey guys. I hope you liked it. I'm not sure what the quality of writing is going to be for the next few updates. Someone very close to me died earlier today. I don't want to abandon it but my writing quality may go down. Review, Review.**


	6. On The Road

**A/N- Hi guys. Sorry its been a while since my last update. Here's chapter 6. We're picking up right after they get on the bus. Maybe Joime here… I don't know. Anyway, lets just start.**

They decided to give Julia break from driving and let Matt Lang try. Julia sat with Darren who was quietly looking out the window. After several attempts to engage him in conversation, she stood up and walked over to the seat where Jaime was.

"Hey." Jaime looked up, "Can I sit here?"

"Sure." Julia sat down. They sat in silence for a while.

"What's going on between you and Joey?" Julia broke the silence.

"Nothing's going on."

"Come on! We all saw you at the restaurant!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you do! You and Joey were sitting next to each other at a table and he reached over and put his arm around you. And then you looked at him in a 'I want you' way!"

"He was stretching. He told me himself. And I did not look at him!"

"You are in some serious denial here."

"Yeah sure. What about you and Darren?" Jaime changed the subject.

"There is nothing between me and Darren."

"But, you wish there was."

"Yeah, maybe. But, Dare doesn't like me like that. I know who he likes and she does not look interested."

"Have you and Lo talked about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You three seem to have a nice love triangle going on."

"Its not a love triangle. We're three adults who happen to like people who don't like us back. A love triangle makes us sound like kids. And I do not need to talk about it. Not to Lo, not to Mere, not to Deeds, not to you."

"Okay. Okay. No need to get all upset. I was just suggesting that you and Lo talk. Maybe if she knew how he feels she could let him know she wasn't interested. An—That's it! You don't know if she has feelings for him! And you're scared to find out!"

"I'm not scared. Okay, maybe a little scared. Do you really think that talking to her will help?"

"You guys are best friends. You tell each other everything. You talk about everything. You shouldn't let Darren or any other guy get in the way of that."

"You're right. I'm gonna go talk to her right now. Thanks Jaime."

"No problem. Good luck." Julia stood up and walked to where Lauren was sitting with Joe.

"Walker leave!" Joe got up and walked away. Julia sat down.

"Hey Jules! What's up?"

"We need to talk."

"Okay."

"Do you like Darren?"

"What? Darren? No. I'm with Joe."

"I didn't ask who you were with. I asked if you liked him."

"No." Honestly though Lauren wasn't so sure. She always felt a sort of pull towards Darren but lately with Joe she had forgotten about it. She wondered if the feelings she felt for Darren were love or the feelings one felt for a protective older brother. She didn't know. Joe was messing with her brain in a good way but it confused the hell out of her heart.

"Okay. But, you know Darren likes you right?"

"Why does everyone think that?"

"Because its true. That boy is completely taken with you. He told me himself."

"Why are you telling me this? Its not like you to tell other people's secret behind their backs. I'm assuming it was a secret. How many other people knew?"

"Me, Jaims, Deeds, Mere, and Brian. I'm telling you because, well, I justthoughtyoushouldknow." Julia quickly said, without thinking.

"You just thought I should know?"

"Ummm... Yeah." Julia looked uncomfortable. Lauren looked at her and came to a sudden realization.

"Jules? Do you like Darren? Don't lie."

"Yeah." Julia admitted.

"Okay." Lauren hugged her friend. From the front of the bus they heard Matt Lang yell that they were stopping.

"Why?" Julia asked, "We're practically there!"

"Just a quick stop." He pulled off the highway and started driving around the town.

"Where are we going?"

"B-Hol. Tell her."

"Well." Brian began, "Its this fan's birthday today and we thought we'd surprise her!"

"Fine." They drove into a neighborhood and pulled up in front of a brick house that had a bunch of cars parked out front. They scrambled out of the bus eager for fresh air and to stretch their legs. Brian Holden took lead and walked up to the door. He knocked three times then waited. A middle aged woman came to the door.

"What can I do for you?" She surveyed the group. Lauren had jumped on Joe and tackled him. She had recruited the other girls to help and they were now sitting on top of him.

"Is this Annie Mackey's house?"

"Yes, what do you want?"

"My name is Brian Holden." He held out his hand, "This is Team Starkid. We were driving through town and we heard over the internet that it was one of our biggest fans birthday's today! We thought we'd surprise her!"

"Now I recognize you! Its so nice of you guys to come! Come in, come in." She opened the door and ushered the Starkids in with the exception of Lauren who was carried in upside down by Joe.

"Put me down!" She yelled kicking and screaming. She bit his hand and he dropped her in surprise.

"She bit me!" Joe said in disbelief.

"Dude, its Lauren Lopez. Does that really surprise you?" Moses asked.

"No more tackling, carrying without permission, or biting of fellow people." Julia stepped in.

"Annie, sweetie?" The heard her mom say.

"Yeah?" A teenager's voice yelled back.

"I have a surprise present for you!"

"I'll open it later!"

"You're going to wanna see it now!"

"Fine. Can you bring it here?"

"Sure." She led the Starkids to a staircase that led to the basement, "She's right down there." They walked down the stairs and stopped when Darren, who was now in front, got to the bottom. He peeked around the corner and saw a teenage girl on the couch intently watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He quietly walked in and gestured for everyone to follow.

"That's a cool movie!" He said to the girl who hadn't heard them enter. He was standing directly behind the girl. She jumped and turned around. Her jaw dropped when she realized that the room was full of Starkids. Darren smiled, "Happy Birthday, Annie!"

"You're Darren Criss." The Starkids laughed.

"Yeah. And you're Annie Mackey."

"And you're Joey Richter and Joe Walker and Joe Moses and Brian Holden and Brian Rosenthal and Nick Lang and Matt Lang and Denise Donovan and Meredith Stepien and Jaime Lyn Beatty and Julia Albain!"

"And Lauren Lopez!" Lauren popped up from behind Joe's back, "Lets have some fun!" They sat in a circle on the floor.

"How old are you turning?" Julia started the conversation.

"Fifteen." Annie replied.

"I remember being fifteen." Jaime said, "I liked it! Freshman, you're like really independant now and stuff."

"I didn't." Lauren answered, "Everyone around me was getting taller and I realized I was stuck like this forever." They all laughed. They talked for a while before Annie noticed Joe with his arm around Lauren. She looked pointedly at them.

"What's going on there?"

"Nothing." Joe said.

"Joe! Don't lie to the girl! We've gone on a few dates."

"I knew it! The fans are always right!"

"What do you mean?"

"We were right about Breredith and now Laurwalk!"

"Are there others?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, I don't wanna make you guys uncomfortable. Do you really wanna know?"

"Yup." Jaime answered.

"Well theres Joime, Joey and Jaime. And there's Jarren. Which is Julia and Darren. Or Joe Jonas and Darren. Then there's CrissColfer, which is obviously a big one. Its not to be confused with Klaine. Its shipping Darren with Chris in real life. Theres a relatively new one called Bropez which is Brolden and Lauren. And an older one from LWL called Crisspez, Lauren and Darren. That's all I can come up with right now." All the Starkids were quiet, thinking. The fans could see things that even they couldn't see sometimes.

"People ship me with Joe Jonas?" Darren asked.

"Yup."

"Why am I shipped with so many people?" Lauren asked.

"You're really shippable because of your compact size." The Starkids laughed.

"Well, this has been really fun but we really have to get going." Julia pointed out.

"Can you guys sign my Apocalyptour poster?"

"Sure!" They signed the poster and took a few pictures together. They said their good-byes and got back on the bus. The Starkids drove another thirty minutes and arrived in Washington, DC.

**A/N- That was longer than I expected. Thanks for all your understanding. Things have been pretty hectic at my house for the past couple days. I'm going to be traveling in a few days to a pretty small town. There's no guarantee I'll have internet there. I'm going to update as much as possible before I leave and I'll write while I'm there and attempt to update in airports. Review Review!**


	7. Washington DC Pt 1

**A/N-Chapter 7, That's crazy! I'm going to be updating until 2am tonight and then tomorrow morning. Yay! Lets just start.**

They arrived at their DC hotel at 7pm. After dropping their luggage and eating dinner they decided to find Georgetown Cupcake. They wandered around for a while and managed to get lost near the Zoo.

"Okay. We're officially lost. I doubt the cupcakes are near the Zoo." Meredith said.

"Why don't we just ask someone?" Matt Lang asked.

"That's a good idea."

"Hey." Joey walked over to a group of girls who were standing at the entrance to the zoo, "Do you guys know where Georgetown Cupcake is? Me and my friends got a little lost."

"Ummm... Yeah. You guys are like way lost. Its totally far from here. Its all the way on M."

"Oh God... Well thanks for your help!"

"No problem."

"You guys." He walked back to the Starkids, "We are really far away. I don't know how we got this lost!"

"Why don't we just go to the zoo?" Joe Walker suggested.

"Yeah!" They walked into the zoo. They looked at the map and quickly realized it was going to take a while to walk through the whole thing.

"We need to figure out where we want to go exactly because its going to take forever to see everything." Julia said being practical.

"Pandas!" Joe Moses yelled.

"Okay, lets find the pandas and see everything until then."

"It looks like they're right here." Darren pointed to a spot on the map that had a small cartoon panda on it. They started walking and saw the lions, the giraffes, and the elephants. When they reached the small mammal house Nick pointed out a sign.

"Look the Komodo Dragon is this way!"

"Lets go see it!" Brian Rosenthal said. They walked to the cage the Komodo Dragon was in.

"Awww... Its sorta cute!" Lauren exclaimed.

"Yeah, if you're into lizards." Denise said looking grossed out.

"It looks hungry." Lauren said.

"No. Absolutely not." Julia said.

"You don't even know what I'm going to do."

"You want to feed it. We are not feeding it!"

"Party pooper."

"I think we've spent enough time with the giant lizard." The moved on to the chimp enclosure. The chimps were allowed to travel about the zoo on wire extending above the ground. They were looking at the cage searching for a chimp when the zoo police showed up.

"Excuse us. Is there a member of your party missing?" Julia did a quick headcount.

"Yeah. Two actually."

"We have them in custody."

"Great! I'm going to kill them! What did they do?"

"We found them almost inside the giraffe enclosure."

"I am so sorry. This lot has been trouble since we got on the road. How did they get there?"

"They appeared intoxicated."

"Oh that explains it."

"What's going on here?" Darren walked up.

"It appears that Brian and Meredith decided to get drunk and join the animals."

"Fantastic."

"So how does this work? Is there monetary compensation? Jail time? Bail? Do I have to sign for them? What are the rules on this?" Julia asked the officer.

"We just ask that you collect them and immediately exit."

"Of course."

"This way. We'll take you to them."

"Hang on just a second I have to get my friends." Julia turned to the Starkids who were staring at a chimpanzee, "Guys, we have to go get Brian and Meredith from police custody. They got drunk and wanted to join the giraffes."

They were led through the zoo until they reached the Zoo police headquarters. Inside, Brian and Meredith were handcuffed to plastic chairs laughing.

"Up." The officer removed their handcuffs, "We located your friends they are here to get you." They walked outside and saw a very angry Julia.

"Can we go back into custody?" Brian asked.

"You two are so embarrassing! We were asked to leave the Zoo! You are in so much trouble! There will be no cupcakes for you! I cannot believe that you got drunk and tried to get into the giraffe enclosure! Its unbelieveable!"

They left the zoo and took the metro back the hotel to plan their next move.

"We should go to the museums!" Lauren said, "I heard Air & Space is really cool!"

"Sounds like a plan for tomorrow provided we can all be sober." Julia looked at Brian and Meredith, "For now everyone can do what they'd like, I guess."

The group broke up. The boys went to wander the streets and the girls found a spa that was open at night. They all sat in a row getting their facials.

"This is nice. We should do this more often." Denise said.

"We should. We need more girl time." Lauren said.

"Afterwards we should go shopping." Jaime suggested.

"Yeah! I need to get something for my date with Bri." Meredith agreed.

"What date?" Denise asked.

"Its going to be in Florida apparently. Whenever we get there."

"Sounds romantic!" Julia said.

"Bri is so dreamy!"

"Okay, enough about your perfect love life," Jaime said, "Most of us didn't get that lucky with our soulmates."

"Are you guys having boy troubles?" Meredith teased.

"Its not funny!" Julia said, "Stupid love triangle." She whispered under her breath.

"What?" Lauren asked.

"Love triangle."

"Oh yeah, we should do something about that."

"What are you two going on about?" Denise asked.

"I like Dare, who likes Lo, who likes Joe. Love triangle or square." Julia answered.

"And I thought I had it hard." Jaime said.

"What? You and Joey?"

"Shhhh..."

"Like its some big secret you like him. We can all tell from a mile off." Lauren said.

They finished their facials and did nails then hit the stores. After an hour Meredith had chosen a flower printed skirt and a tank top for her date. Lauren had purchased more sparkly shorts, Julia had bought boots, Jaime bought feather earrings, Julia had new scarves, and Denise had bought black platform shoes. They returned to the hotel with their purchases and ordered a pizza. When they finished eating they called the boys to see where they were.

"Hello."

"Joey its Lauren."

"Heyyyyyyyy Lo."

"Where are you?"

"I dunno."

"Are all the boys there?"

"Mmmmm..."

"Is there anyone who is not drunk?"

"Nope."

"Cool. Bye." She hung up, "The boys are drunk somewhere they don't recognize."

"Amazing. Speaking of drunk people. Meredith, what were you thinking when you decided to join the giraffes?" Julia asked.

"I wasn't thinking. I was drunk."

"How? You were at the zoo."

"We had a few drinks on the bus. You'd be surprised how much alcohol is in the Zoo besides we were bored."

"Well lets hope that tomorrow we can all avoid getting drunk at museums and any of the monuments."

**A/N- Whew. Its 3am. I'm tired. Well, review. Review.**


	8. Washington DC Pt 2

**A/N- Its been a while but I'm back. I actually came back last night (sorry I didn't update then) but I was busy writing Keeping Tradition. Has anyone read the Bully Book yet? I just saw the livestream and now am like "Holy Crap! I need this book!" Also, I don't understand people who obsess over museums and monuments and its been a while since I've been to these places so things might be different. So yeah.**

The next morning the girls were up early. They went down to the breakfast buffet at around 9 to find the boys already sitting at a table, drinking coffee, and looking extremely hungover.

"Glad you boys made it home last night." Meredith said.

"No thanks to you." Brian responded.

"We're not your mothers. Its not our job to peel you off the floor of a shady bar." Julia said sternly. The girls went over to the buffet. Lauren was immediately disappointed by the lack of gluten-free food. She picked up an apple and a coffee and sat down next to Joe.

"How was your night?" She asked taking a sip of coffee.

"I feel like this is a trick question." He looked at her.

"Nope. Just wondering." Julia sat down next to her and the rest of the girls followed putting down their plates.

"Where do you guys wanna go today?" Julia asked pulling out a map.

"Bed." Joey answered.

"Wrong answer. You stayed out all night at bars. We're not cancelling our day for that."

"Air and Space museum." Darren said looking up from his plate.

"Right answer. We'll go there."

"Statue of Liberty." Joe Moses said his eyes closed and head on the table.

"That's not even in this city!"

"Washington Monument." Meredith said.

"Lincoln Memorial." Brian answered.

"These are all so boring!" Lauren said, "Can we go to the exorcist stairs or something?"

"That sounds scary!" Meredith said.

"I'll hold your hand." Brian winked.

"Awww... So sweet." Matt said sarcastically.

"We'll see about the exorcist stairs..." Julia said, "Lets go to Air and Space, Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial then we'll decide where to go."

They hopped on the metro and arrived at the Air and Space museum a few minutes later. They walked up to the door and went inside. There was a line for the security desk. When it was their turn to be searched they had some trouble getting through due to the hungover status of the guys but after a little convincing they were allowed in. They began going through the museum floor by floor. They went to the simulators on the second floor. They sat inside and Denise looked over at her neighbor.

"Ohmigod!" She hugged Dylan Saunders who was sitting next to her.

"Sorry I missed the first part of the trip but I had work." He pulled away.

"Are you coming with us?"

"Yeah."

"Its been so long since we've seen each other. Does everyone else know you're here?"

"No. I missed you. A lot. I wanted to see you first."

"You should go see them. They'll be glad to see you."

"Don't you get it? I wanted to see_ you_."

"What do you mean?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"Oh! Ummm... Wow! Dylan I'm totally flattered and like you too but..." Denise was confused. He had never mentioned this before.

"You don't like me back? Now I'm really embarrassed." He gave a nervous laugh and looked away.

"Its not that."

"What is it then?"

"I'm not ready for another relationship just yet. What happened with Josh... I just can't get serious with a guy right now. I couldn't do that to you. I can't commit." She rambled.

"Just one date." He pleaded.

"I can't." The ride ended and she hurried off. Dylan followed and walked up to the group. He walked up behind Meredith, grabbed her shoulders, and yelled "Boo!" She yelped and turned around.

"Dylan!" She gave him a hug. They had become really close friends during Starship but even though they played each other's romantic interest there was never anything between them. they had discussed it at one point and both were relieved that neither had feelings for each other.

"Watch it! Thats my girl you're hugging!" Brian said smiling.

"Hey Brian. Dude, you look hungover." The rest of the group realized what was going on and jumped in for a group hug. They calmed down after a few minutes and went down to the cafeteria to eat. Meredith, Brian, and Denise sat together at a table.

"Hey, Bri. Can you give us few minutes?" Denise asked.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"No problem." He walked over to where Joe and Lauren were sitting with Dylan and sat in the empty seat.

"I need advice."

"Sure, on what?"

"Dylan likes me."

"And you don't like him back?"

"I like him. I just..."

"Can't be in a relationship?" Meredith answered.

"Yeah."

"My advice is chance it. Go on a date. Don't let Josh get in the way of your happiness. Its over now and you deserve a good guy. That's what happened to me and Bri in college. I let a stupid heartbreak get in the way of going out with him. And looked what happened. It took years for us to find each other again."

"Mere, what happened between me and Josh wasn't like a college heartbreak."

"I know what happened. You told me. And it doesn't matter. Deeds you're living in the past. You need to stop dwelling on what happened and get yourself back out there."

"I don't know."

"Denise Marie Donovan. You are going to go on a date with Dylan and you're going to be happy. If you don't go I'll kick your ass. And you tell me if Dylan treats you as anything less than a lady so I can kick his ass too."

"Thanks for the pep talk Mere." She hugged her.

"No problem. Now go get your man." Denise stood up and walked toward the table Dylan was at.

"Hey guys. Can I borrow Dylan for a second. I'll bring him right back." Dylan got up and Denise led him away from the tables to a corner.

"What's going on?"

"I thought about the stuff you told me."

"And?"

"I changed my mind. I'll go on one date. And see how things go."

"Thats great!" Dylan said, "Who convinced you?"

"Mere promised to kick my ass if I didn't go."

"I'll have to thank her then."

"So when?"

"Tonight."

"Isn't that a little soon?"

"I wouldn't want you changing your mind on me."

**A/N- So, here's the deal... In an ideal world I would be able to keep up two fics at once, update both everyday, and write at least one one-shot a week. But, with school starting thats not going to happen. Whats probably going to happen is this, I'll try to update one fic a day, so thats and update every other day per fic. I'm going to do maybe a one-shot every month, unless someone requests something. So, review review.**


	9. A Date Gone Wrong

**A/N- Okay. So. I'm really sorry guys. I haven't updated in forever. **

**New update rule: I will update as often as humanly possible.**

**So, yeah. Also, I'm skipping the rest of the monuments. This chapter deals with some stuff that's, I think, pretty dark. Just warning you guys. But lets start.**

"I think she should wear this one." Lauren pointed to a Starkid shirt. That had 'Supermegafoxyawesomhot' written on it.

"Absolutely not! Its a date with Dylan not with a fan." Denise replied.

"Okay, what about this one?" Meredith pulled a flowery skirt from the suitcase along with a pink tank top.

"Its perfect! Thanks Mere!" She put it on then went into the bathroom to do her hair and make up. She came back out and sat on the bed looking for shoes.

"Hey what time i-Shit! You're an hour late!" Julia said.

"What?" Denise pulled her phone out of her purse and texted Dylan: _srry b there soon :(_

After a trip on the metro that felt like hours and getting lost a few times, she arrived at the restaurant. Walking in she spotted Dylan sitting at the bar talking with another guy. She walked up to them and the guy turned around.

"Hey Denise." He said. She recognized him. It was Josh. Her eyes widened and she started to walk away counting her steps.

"Do not come one step closer or you'll violate the restraining order!"

"Deeds, what are you talking about?" Dylan looked confused.

"Dyl, get him away from me!"

"Hun, he's just sitting here. He's harmless."

"He's my ex-boyfriend."

"I know that. He's a pretty nice guy."

"I need to go. I'm sorry Dylan but I can't stay here." Denise announced and she walked out of the restaurant and into the street.

"What was that all about?" Dylan asked Josh.

"I don't know. You should ask her."

"Well, it was nice meeting you."

"Likewise." They shook hands. When Dylan walked out Denise was nowhere to be seen. So, he hopped on a bus and headed back to the hotel. As soon as he arrived he was cornered by a pissed Meredith.

"I told you I would kick your ass!"

"What did I do?"

"Was he there?"

"Who?"

"You know who."

"Oh. Josh? Yeah he was there. Seems like a nice guy."

"Did you let him near her?"

"She wouldn't let him within fifty feet. Said she had a restraining order."

"So she did get one. Good for her."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You really don't know?"

"No clue."

"I really think that Denise should tell you."

"Well where is she?"

"She's crying. Dyl, it could take her days to get over this."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it takes her so long to get over a guy."

"It doesn't. Its just... Josh. God, I can't believe he had the nerve to even talk to you!"

"I'm so lost."

"Here. Lets just go upstairs." Meredith led the way to the hotel room Denise was in. She opened the door to see Denise lying on the bed. The other girls were sitting next to her talking to her.

"Hey Deeds. I brought Dylan with me. If that's okay." She sat up and wiped tears off her face.

"Hey." He walked over and sat on the bed next to her. Meredith discreetly motioned for the other girls to get up and leave with her. They walked out of the room and closed the door leaving the couple alone.

"Hi Dyl." Denise tried to smile.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Liar. What's going on?"

"Its sorta a long story."

"So? We have all night."

"Me and Josh dated for a few months. And the whole time-" She started to cry.

"Was he cheating? That bastard!"

"No. Dyl you can't tell anyone. Only Mere, Jules, and Jaime know. And, it was the stupidest thing. I never should have let it happen. He-he was abusive." She started to full on sob.

"What?! I'm going to kill him! How did this happen?" He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. After a few minutes she calmed down and was able to continue.

"One day Meredith came over and found me on the ground. My nose was bleeding and I had bruises up and down my arms. I told her I had fallen down but the shape of the bruises gave me away. I had his handprints up and down my arms there was no way to hide it anymore. Mere was pissed to say the least. She called the other girls over and told them what was going on. They made sure I broke up with him the next day. But then he started to follow me everywhere. We got the police involved and I filed a restraining order. And that's it."

"Oh my god! You never told me!"

"I didn't tell any of the guys. You wouldn't understand."

"We wouldn't understand? What is there to understand?" Dylan started to get angry, "He was hitting you and god knows what else and you let him!"

"Dylan please don't yell."

"I'm going to yell because I'm pissed! I can't believe you could keep something like this from everyone! An-" He stopped. Denise had collapsed into tears, "I'm sorry."

"I-Its okay. You have a right to be angry."

"No, I don't. I shouldn't be yelling at you. What happened was awful and it should never happen again. But, I should be comforting you."

"That's why I was so hesitant to go on a date with you. You were the first guy I agreed to go on a date with since Josh. And even though I knew you were an amazing guy, I was scared. Because Josh was an amazing guy too. We knew each other in high school then he turned into a monster."

"Denise Donovan. I promise you that that will never happen to you again on my watch. If you're not ready to date yet I can wait. I'm willing to wait as long as you need. When you're ready. We can go as slow as you want. But, I know one thing. You are the one for me."

"That's all I needed to hear."

**A/N- Finally! I wrote a chapter! Congratulations to me! It was a little different than my other chapters as it was more focused on just the two characters and it wasn't very... funny. But, I wanted to write it in to the story. I couldn't make all the couples have the same storyline. So I added some potential drama. Review! Review!**


	10. Impatient Bus Riders

**A/N- Let me start this with a huge I'M SORRY! Its been forever since I updated and I feel really bad about it. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned you! Last chapter was dramatic but it wouldn't be one of my stories without the dramaaaa! So yay! **

"Juliaaaaaaaa!" Meredith whined, "Are we there yet?" Julia sighed. They had left DC just a few minutes ago for Orlando and people were already asking if they were there yet. She knew it was gonna be a long trip.

"No Meredith. We still have about twelve hours." _If we're lucky. _She thought to herself. But she couldn't tell them that. There would probably be a riot.

"Juliaaaaaaa!" Lauren called.

"Yes?"

"When are we stopping?"

"We just got on the road."

"I'm bored." Julia looked to Darren for help. He raised his hands and stuck out his bottom lip in a classic 'Darren doesn't know' pose. Then his face stretched into a smile. He motioned for Julia to go sit next to him. She walked over and sat next to him. She couldn't help but smile back. His excitement was contagious.

"Do you have an idea?" She asked.

"No."

"Did you call me over here for a reason?"

"I was lonely. And I think you were too."

"I was in the middle of a group."

"I think you were lonely in here." He motioned to her heart.

"That was deep Darren. Especially for you."

"Was that an insult?"

"You'll never know." They got quiet. Julia didn't mind it when it was quiet between them but she wished they could still go quiet without her mind and heart going into overdrive wondering if he didn't want to talk to her. She wanted to go back to college when they were best friends. No feelings. No complications. Just friends. But, she couldn't back out now. She knew that she had let her little crush go too far and now she had to deal with it.

"Juliajuliajuliajuliajuliajul iajulia..." Lauren chanted her name, interrupting Julia's thoughts. Her voice only getting louder.

"For the love of god! Lauren! What do you need?"

"Are we there yet?"

"We'll get there when we get there! Just shut up!" The bus went dead silent. None of them could remember the last time Julia had lost her temper. And she had never just lost it before. Both Lauren and Julia looked on the verge of tears. Julia got up and moved to an empty seat as far away from everyone else as possible, turning her head towards the window. Darren started to get up but Lauren reached her arm over the seat and stopped him.

"Don't."

"What? You're gonna go?"

"No but it sure as hell can't be you."

"What are you saying?"

"Don't make me tell you but please just let someone else go." Lauren pleaded.

"Okay." Darren's face showed his confusion but he understood there we something going on that was beyond something he could fix.

"Thanks." Lauren looked relieved, "Jaime? Can you?"

"Sure." Jaime got up and slowly walked to Julia's seat and sat next to her, "Jules?" Julia turned around to face Jaime. Jaime could see tears in her eyes. She wrapped her in a hug. A few moments later Julia pulled away.

"I just... I don't know. He likes Lauren. And I know I sound like a middle schooler but I love him, Jaime. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Jaime hugged her again.

"The way you feel about Darren isn't some middle school love. I can tell. But, Julia if he doesn't see how you feel he's not worth it. He's just a guy. Maybe he's the love of your life. Maybe he's not. If he is it'll work out. If he's not, soon you'll find another guy, a better guy. Okay?"

"Okay. Is Lauren okay? I didn't mean to snap at her like that."

"She's fine. She understands. She wanted to come over here but figured she wasn't the person you needed to talk to. She also stopped Darren from coming to talk to you."

"She's being so great about this whole thing."

"Except she won't tell Darren she's not interested."

"I can't blame her. She liked him a lot in college and its hard to get away from feelings like that. But, I think that Joe's the guy for her. She seems much happier than she ever did with Darren."

"See. Everything is going to work out."

"I'm going to go apologize."

"Okay." The girls got up and returned to their original seats. All eyes focused on them wondering what Jaime had said to calm Julia down.

"Hey guys!" Julia began, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for losing my temper. I don't know what go into me."

"Its fine." Lauren said, "We all have those days." But as her eyes me with Julia's, Julia saw something different. She looked apologetic. Julia broke eye contact confused and wondering what she was sorry for. Once the bus had calmed down and gotten back into its routine. Julia silently motioned for Lauren to join her. The two moved to the front of the bus.

"There's the look again." Julia observed.

"What look?"

"The apologetic look."

"Oh. Yeah."

"So what's with that?"

"I feel like this whole thing is my fault."

"What thing?"

"The whole you and Darren thing."

"How is it your fault?"

"I don't know. I keep thinking there's some way I can get him to unlike me." Lauren admitted.

"Don't blame yourself Lauren. If its meant to be it'll happen."

"Did Jaime tell you that?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"She's been telling herself that a lot lately."

"Wh- Oh. Right. Joey."

"Yeah."

"Do you think he likes her back?" The conversation shifted.

"I don't know. I think so but we don't want to get her hopes up."

"Well she is Salad Sally. and he's Joey Richter. So it has to work out. We wrote it." Julia joked.

"What does Joey have an out of control dick now?" Julia erupted into loud laughter. Lauren quickly followed. The laughing deteriorated into crying. The rest of the bus stared at the best friends who were on the floor, their laughing out of control. Finally they stopped and took a few deep breaths.

"Are you guys okay?" Joey asked. His face sent them into their fits again, "Was it something I said?"

"No." Julia said between laughs.

"Its not even that funny."

"What was it?" Dylan asked, ever curious.

"Lets just say we were talking about two people who want to have Carribean Study together." Julia admitted finally calming down. The moment she said it Jaime's face went bright red, knowing they were talking about her.

**A/N- I hope this seemed normal. It felt weird writing. I don't know why. I'm super excited for Glee on Thursday! Klaine forever 3! Tell me if there's a particular couple you think I should include more. I feel like this is becoming my other story (When Life Gets Too Hard) and I really don't want that. So, review!**


	11. A Hitchhiker

**A/N- Its been awhile but I'm back! I've been having serious writers block probably because I've been writing a lot of essays recently. My sister gave me this idea as a joke but I took her seriously and ran with it. So, I have no idea how this will turn out. But, enjoy!**

A few hours south of Wilmington the Starkids found themselves driving down a lonely country road. The road was basically abandoned with no cars on it, no signs, and seemed to go on forever. Their GPS wasn't being all that helpful either as it wouldn't even register that they were on a road. Everyone was uncharacteristically quiet as Julia, Matt, and Nick attempted to find their way back onto a main road.

"May I ask a question?" Meredith broke the silence.

"You already have." Brian answered with a grin.

"Clever boy."

"You know it."

"Just ask the damn question!" Lauren was becoming extremely impatient.

"Are we lost?"

"Hmmm... Well, I don't know Meredith. What do you think?"

"Lauren." Julia warned, "Play nice." Lauren sighed exasperatedly as the seemingly endless drive continued. She looked out the window and continued listening to her music. Suddenly in the distance she spotted something or someone.

"Guys! I think there's someone out there!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Julia replied.

"I'm serious! Look!" Lauren pointed to where she saw the man and they could see that he had his thumb out in the classic hitchhiker position, "Matt! Pull over!" Matt yanked the wheel and the bus slid to a stop at the side of the road.

"Thanks for stopping!" The man said.

"No problem." Julia replied, "We were hoping you would know where we were."

"You're on a road."

"We can see that." Lauren replied.

"Lauren Lopez. Tone down the sass right now!" Julia replied. The man took a look inside the bus.

"What are all of you doing in here?"

"We're on our way to Florida. How did you get on this road?"

"I hitchhiked."

"The road is deserted."

"I know. But, someone always comes along."

"Well we can't very well leave you stranded here. Come on in!" She helped him clamber onto the bus and he sat in the seat behind her surveying the group. He looked around the whole bus until his gaze rested on Jaime.

"Jaime Lyn Beatty as I live and breathe!" He stood up. She turned her head from her position facing Meredith to acknowledge the presence of the hitchhiker.

"Oh my god!" She leapt up and hugged him, "Where the hell have you been?"

"I've done a little travelling here and there. I was at one of your shows a little while ago."

"Why didn't you tell me? I've missed you so so so much!"

"So." He glanced around at the group, "These are the famous Starkids!"

"Oh don't say that. The last thing this group needs is an ego boost."

"Jaim! Not to be rude or anything but who is this?" Lauren said.

"Everyone this is Gabriel. Gabriel this is everyone."

"Jaime!" Gabriel caught her attention.

"Fine! Gabe. I told you I don't like that!"

"I still don't see what you have against Gabe but you can call me anything baby." He winked.

"How do you guys know each other?" Julia asked after Matt pulled back on the road.

"How did we meet?"

"Second grade. First day. Grace-Kylie's."

"Right! It was the first day of second grade and it was a really annoying girl named Grace-Kylie's birthday. Come to think of it I don't know why she insisted on the Kylie part but oh well. I wonder what happened to her..."

"Cupcake!" Gabe pulled her back into reality, "That's not important."

"Do you know something?" He looked guilty, "You do! You better tell me later sweetie!"

"Alright. Can you finish the story?"

"Yeah. We were the only new kids that year and we were celebrating her birthday with cake and juice. I didn't know anyone and was sort of shy so I was sitting in the corner drinking a Spiderman juice box when Gabe walked over and squeezed it all over me. I still don't know why."

"Nothing was hotter than a girl with a juice box. Especially one who liked superheroes. It was just my innocent way of telling you that I thought you were hot stuff." Jaime blushed.

"But, anyway. Neither of us were allowed out for recess so we stayed inside and bonded. And he became my best friend." Gabriel dramatically hugged her.

"Omg! Besties forever!"

"That's so cute!" Meredith said, "So, when did you guys date?"

"What?" Gabe and Jaime said together glancing at each other confused.

"The pet names, the winks, the flirting. Clearly you either went out or there are unresolved feelings so spill!" Both of them started to laugh, "What's so funny?"

"That's this big inside joke! Whenever we were at mixers we would pretend to be each others date so we wouldn't have to deal with idiots! It sort of stuck."

"I'm stuck on yooouuu. Stuck like gluueee!" Gabe sang, "Hey Jaim! Remember that time whe-"

"Shut up!" Jaime jumped on him and shoved her hand over his mouth. He started to mumble and she pulled her hand away.

"I was just gonna sing Stutter. Gosh Jaime! Like I would spill our secrets. But there was that on-" Jaime resumed her previous actions and turned to Julia.

"Can we exchange him for a different one?"

"A different hitchhiker?"

"Yeah." She nodded then said loudly, "One that I don't know and is quiet and doesn't sing!"

"I don't know. I sorta like him." Joey said making eye contact with Gabe before tackling Jaime.

"Hey!"

"Gotcha now sweetheart." Gabe said smiling.

"Get off of me! Gabriel Constantine Stiva you are so dead!"

"I'll let you go if you kiss lover boy over here." Gabe challenged.

"Who?"

"Joey, lover boy!"

"Ewww! No I'm not kissing Joey! He's like my brother."

"I thought you would have been glad of the opportunity given how much you like him."

"I do not!"

"I've known you for almost twenty years! I think I know when you have a crush."

"Really?" Joey asked, "Jaime do you like me?" Gabe let Jaime go so she could stand up and face him. But, she turned to Gabe instead.

"I can't believe you! Why would you say that?"

"I don't see the issue, he clearly likes you back!"

"Can you just stop?" Jaime walked to the back of the bus and sat in the seat the farthest away from the boys.

"Should I-?" Gabe asked.

"No. I think you've done enough." Meredith said before standing up and walking to the back of the bus to sit with Jaime.

**A/N- Hope you liked it! Look out for more updates! Review!**


	12. A Misunderstanding

**A/N- Hey guys! After some writer's block on this story I'm back! For the people who have been requesting Breredith, I promise it's coming. I have an adorable date all planned out but you guys have to wait until they get to Florida. So, yup.**

**Engage.**

"Jaim. Are you okay?" Meredith said gently, sitting next to her friend.

"No! No I'm not okay! I want to get away from them but I can't because we're on this stupid bus! I wanna get off!" Jaime panicked.

"Okay. Jaime. It's okay. I'm gonna go ask Matt to stop. Okay?" Jaime nodded and Meredith stood up walking carefully to the front of the bus. She slid into the seat next to Julia right behind Matt who was still driving.

"Is she okay?" Julia asked.

"I think she'll be fine. But, can we pull over somewhere? She's freaking out."

"Yeah. Definitely. I think we all need a break at this point." Julia leaned over the seat to Matt, "Can we pull over?"

"Sure. Anywhere in particular?"

"Preferably at a rest stop or some kind of restaurant."

"No problem-o." Matt pulled off the road, which they had finally reached the end of, and into the parking lot of a Southern looking BBQ house, "This okay?" Julia eyed the place and nodded.

"Okay! Everybody out!" She began walking up the row waking people up. There were groans all around as people were woken up from their naps and pleaded to be allowed to stay on the bus to sleep, "Its nonnegotiable! We are all getting off this bus right now!"

Meredith walked to the back of the bus and guided Jaime out. The rest of the group followed them out. Julia counted off, making sure they were all actually getting off. Matt got out and she noticed she was one short. She recounted the people and came to the same conclusion.

"Missing someone?" Darren asked from behind her. Julia jumped.

"Yeah. You. You scared me."

"Sorry." Julia stood aside to let him off but he didn't move.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked scanning his face, which gave away nothing.

"Jules. What's going on?"

"Oh. Jaim's just upset. We want to give her some space."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Julia's expression mirrored the confusion in her head, "What's going on with you Jules?"

"Nothing."

"You're avoiding me." He accused, "For this whole trip we've barely spoken and you're so upset all the time that I don't know where we stand."

"There's nothing going on and we've spoken plenty."

"Before or after your mental break-down?"

"Darren."

"I'm worried about you. You're never like this. I feel like you wish I had never come."

"That's not true. I'm glad you came. Its good for them to see that you still care."

"The team or the fans?"

"Both."

"But not you?"

"Can we drop it?"

"No. Something's bothering you and I'm not letting it go on like this for another minute." Mercifully Lauren appeared.

"Oh. You guys look like you're having a pretty serious conversation. I think I'll just lea-" Julia shot her a 'Save me!' look and Lauren said in a Southern accent, "Actually, y'all need to come in here and have some delicious southern BBQ!"

"That's sounds great!" Julia turned around but Darren grabbed her shoulder.

"This conversation isn't over." He said and Julia pulled away running inside the restaurant. Inside, Jaime was sitting at the bar, ordering some kind of alcoholic drink in a shot glass.

"Is that a good idea? What's she doing? She's Jaime. She never drinks like that." Julia said worriedly.

"Calm down. I'll go check on her." Lauren walked over to the bar and sat down on a stool next to her, "Where's Mere?"

"I told her to go away. Just like I'm about to tell you."

"Sorry. Can't get rid of me that easily." She waved her arm to get the bartender's attention, "Can I get some of whatever she's drinking?"

"I don't think so." He looked her up and down, taking in her raspberry Converse, high-waisted jean shorts, and unicorn sweatshirt.

"And why not?"

"Got an ID?"

"No. But I'm over 21!"

"You don't look it."

"I am."

"I'm more than happy to believe you if you can show me an ID."

"Its in my suitcase. I can't get it."

"Well then miss I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the authorities."

"What? Why?" Jaime asked.

"She attempted to get an alcoholic drink and was then unable to produce an ID."

"Lo is over 21!"

"I'm afraid I can't take your word for it." He picked up the phone and dialed, "I have a potential underage drinker." Lauren stood up and marched over to Julia.

"We have a situation."

"What now?" She was cut short by a policeman and policewoman walking in.

"They're fast. Don't they work?"

"Lauren? What's going on?"

"That idiot thinks I'm an underage drinker!"

"Great." Julia walked over to the police, "Hello. I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"How so?" The man said.

"The bartender seems to think that my friend, Lauren, is underage."

"Can she produce valid ID?"

"No. But-"

"Well then it's the law."

"Hold on a second." The woman said, "Ain't y'all those Starkid folks?"

"Yeah. That's us."

"My daughter loves y'all! They're all over 25. We can let them go."

"You're the boss." The man said.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience but you really should carry your ID's around with you." The woman said.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know."

**A/N- That was shorter than I expected but I hope you guys liked it anyway! The Breredith is coming! Review!**


	13. Un-Ruined Lives

**A/N- Sorry I've been absent lately but I'm updating now! This is for all you Breredith shippers and everyone who's requested more of them! Enjoy the Breredith cuteness!**

After a few hours passed in complete silence, mercifully they arrived in Florida at their hotel at around 2 am. The bus pulled up in the lobby and the Starkids and Gabe practically leapt off the bus, eager to be away from each other. Brian was the first to reach the desk. Meredith, who had opted to sit on the couch and wait for Brian, had fallen asleep.

"Good Evening." The receptionist said cheerfully, "And welcome to the hotel. How can I be of service today?"

"We're checking in." Brian said gesturing to Meredith.

"Name?"

"Holden."

"Of course. Let me call someone to help with your bags." Moments later a bellboy appeared.

"How many bags?" He asked.

"Four. Two suitcases and two backpacks."

"Alright. You ready?"

"One minute. I just have to get my girlfriend." He walked towards Meredith. Reaching her he attempted to rouse her, "Babe. We have to go to our room." She fluttered her eyes and kept sleeping. Unwilling to try and wake her again when she looked so peaceful, Brian lifted her up and carried her bridal style back to where the bellboy waited with the bags.

"Right this way Mr. and Mrs. Holden." The bellboy said. At the sound of 'Mrs. Holden' Meredith's eyes opened wide.

"What? We're not married!" She said alarmed. The bellboy nodded and led them to the elevator.

"Is it really that terrible of a thought?" Brian asked.

"Is what?" Meredith responded tiredly.

"Being married to me. Is it really that bad to you?"

"Can we have this conversation in private?" She glanced at their friends and presumably a few fans that were looking at them and clearly listening in on their conversation.

"Sure." They arrived in their room and the bellboy put their suitcases in the room. Brian carried Meredith and put her on the bed then shut the door. He walked back over and sat next to each her, "Let's get some sleep. You're tired."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk now?"

"Yeah. We both need rest." They pulled their pajamas on and got into bed. Brian turned off the lights and climbed into bed pulling Meredith into his arms. But, Brian still couldn't fall asleep. He was watching Meredith sleep when suddenly her eyes snapped open.

"You should be sleeping." She said laughing at his shocked expression.

"How did you know I was awake?"

"I could feel your breathing."

"Mmmhmmm…" Brian muttered. Meredith sat up, "What is it?"

"Neither of us are going to be able to sleep until we talk are we?"

"Probably not." Brian paused, "So, is it really that bad to be married to me?"

"No. I-Its not that." Brian looked at her again and saw tears welling up in her eyes.

"Shhhh… Honey what is it?" He pulled her down into her arms.

"I don't know. I guess I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be scared of." Brian looked confused.

"I know that. But we have a good thing going. Why should we ruin it with marriage?"

"Who says it'll be ruined?"

"I don't want to become one of those married couples that never talk."

"Okay. I promise we'll talk."

"And what if we're not meant for each other? I don't wanna—"

"We are going to be fine." Brian reassured her.

"You're right." Meredith paused as Brian wiped some stray tears, "I'm just being silly."

"Its fine. Are we okay?"

"Yeah. G'night."

"Good night." Meredith rolled over to face the wall and fell asleep. She woke up a few hours later and turned to look at Brian who was laying flat on his back staring at the ceiling.

"Bri? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"Okay…?" She thought for a minute then came to a sudden conclusion, "Oh my god!"

"What?"

"You-You were gonna propose weren't you?"

"I was." Brian admitted.

"You were? What do you mean were?"

"You're not ready Mere. And I get that. I can wait as long as you need. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. You're stuck with me for a long while whether or not we have rings."

"Thanks Bri."

"No problem. Now lets get some sleep for real." They both closed their eyes and fell asleep content.

-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-STARKID-S TARKID-STARKID-

Meredith opened her eyes to find Brian gone. In his place, lay a flower and a note that read:

_Morning Babe. I left early today to plan something. Meet me in the lobby when you wake up. Wear your bathing suit. Love, Brian_

Meredith rolled out of bed; the clock read 10:30 am. She opened her suitcase to find it empty, except for a piece of paper, another note.

_I unpacked your clothes. They're all in the dresser or the closet. _

Meredith walked to the dresser and found a bathing suit. She then moved to the bathroom to shower. Pulling on shorts and a shirt and grabbing a towel she made her way out the door eager to see what Brian had planned. Being sure the door was locked and that she had the key she almost ran down the hall to the lobby. Halfway there she slammed into Lauren who was running full force in the other direction. Both girls toppled over.

"Lo. You okay?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"Fine. Where were you going?"

"I'm, ummm, gotta go!" Lauren took off down the hall as Joe and Darren came around the corner running as fast as they could followed closely by Denise. Meredith flattened herself against the wall to avoid being trampled.

"What's going on?" She shouted at Denise.

"Tag! I'm it!" She answered before disappearing down the next hall. Meredith shook her head and kept walking. Not long after she came face-to-face with Julia.

"Where are they?" Julia said in an even tone.

"They went down the hall."

"I'm gonna kill them! They're acting like children."

"You are what you eat." Julia elected to ignore the comment.

"Where are you going anyway? I'd have thought you and Brian would have been leading this catastrophe."

"Not us. I would ask Darren. But, I just woke up. Brian has a secret date planned."

"Oh. Okay have fun!" Meredith continued and after no more interruptions she made it to the lobby where Brian was leaning against the wall playing Temple Run on his phone. He smiled widely when he saw her.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here."

**A/N- Hope you liked it! Next chapter there will be more Breredith cuteness! And in the next few chapters we'll find out what happened when everyone else got off the bus. Review!**


	14. You'll Be Okay and I'm Fine

**A/N- Hi again! I can't decide if I like this chapter but… Enjoy the Breredith cuteness and other stuff too! **

"So, are you gonna tell me where we're going?" Meredith said to Brian from the passenger seat.

"Nope. You'll have to wait and see. It's a surprise!" He said gleefully turning on the radio. He turned the volume all the way up and some pop song blasted out the open roof of their rented convertible and into the hot, Florida air.

"Hey Bri! Turn it down!" Meredith yelled over the beat, holding her vibrating phone in her hand. Brian reached over and turned it off; Meredith answered her phone.

"Yeah?"

"Mere?" Dylan's voice was heard.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I need help."

"With?"

"I wanna take Denise on a date that's going to actually work."

"And?"

"And I need help!" Dylan whined.

"Dyl?"

"Yeah?"

"Figure it out!"

"Please Mere? I don't want another disaster!" He pleaded.

"Okay." Meredith said tentatively, "I'm actually with Bri right now. So, when I get back tonight I'll try and help."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Don't let them get into to much trouble."

"Bye." She hung up and Brian looked at her.

"Who was it?"

"Dylan." Meredith answered.

"What'd he want?"

"Relationship advice."

"Oh. Okay." He paused, "Oh yeah! How'd their date go anyway?"

"It went okay."

"Is that it? Come on Mere! Tell me all the juicy details. I know Deeds told you everything."

"Brian. I don't really think it's any of your business."

"Since when?" Brian sounded confused.

"I just don't wanna talk about it. Okay?"

"Meredith." Brian said in a warning tone.

"I don't want to ruin this by telling you what happened. It's gonna put both of us in a bad mood and then we won't be able to enjoy ourselves."

"Okay. But, they're okay right?"

"Yeah. They're fine."

"Good." They rode in silence for a while just enjoying each other's company. Brian turned the music up again and soon they arrived at their destination.

"Where are we?" Meredith asked checking out the scene before her. She saw a beautiful beach; next to it was a dock. All around the beach were palm trees and clear water. It appeared to be empty.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." He turned off the engine and unlocked to doors, getting out of the car, "Well? Come on!" Brian walked around and opened Meredith's door, took her hand, and lead her down the dock. He helped her onto the small yacht that waited for them at the end of their walk, "Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. My name is Captain Brian and I'll be conducting this ride."

"Lead on Captain Brian!" Meredith giggled as she sat down. Brian started the boat and they began swiftly moving out onto the water. After a few minutes they reached the place where, evidently, Brian was looking for. He cut the motor in the middle of the water. He went below deck and emerged with scuba gear.

"This is gonna be fun!" He said gleefully.

"Bri? What're we doing?"

"Scuba diving!"

"O-okay. Let's do it." Meredith stood up and walked towards him. He helped her suit up then got himself ready.

"Come on! The water's great!" Brian said as he dove in. Meredith opted to get in slowly. She eased in and treaded water next to him.

"You ready?" He asked.

"I guess. Yeah." Brian gestured for her to follow him then he dove under the waves. Meredith glanced at the boat then followed. Brian kept swimming down. About, ten feet down he realized that Meredith was not behind him. Turning around he swam back to the surface. When his head surfaced, he looked for Meredith. He spotted her a few feet away and swam over to her.

"Meredith? Are you okay?" When Brian came close enough she grabbed onto him. He could hear her rapid breathing and feel her racing heartbeat, "Okay. Okay. Let's get you back to the boat. Alright?" She nodded. Brian guided her back to the boat and helped her up the ladder. He climbed up after her. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. He could see her breathing had not changed when he sat down, "Mere? Can you breathe with me? Deep breath in. Deep breath out. In. Out." Her breathing gradually slowed and Brian saw her eyes fill with tears, "Can you talk?" She nodded, "Okay. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I-I don't know." She said slowly, "I was in the water and you dove under and I was gonna follow you but then I couldn't breathe and I was scared and—" She started to cry again.

"Alright." Brian pulled her into a tight hug, "I think you might have had a panic attack. Has this ever happened to you before?"

"N-no. How did you—"

"How did I know what to do?" Meredith nodded, "I had a good friend with an anxiety disorder in high school."

"Sorry I ruined the date." Meredith said.

"Its not your fault. Do you wanna go back to the hotel? We can talk there."

"Yeah." Brian packed up the stuff and they drove back to the hotel.

"Why don't you go back to the room. I'll be there soon. Just gotta unpack the car."

"Okay." Meredith walked inside just as Julia came out another door.

"I thought you were gonna be gone all day." Julia said in greeting.

"We were." Brian answered pulling bags from the car.

"And?"

"There was a little problem so we had to come back."

"What was it?" Julia paused then revised her statement, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Everything was fine until we got in the water."

"Then?"

"Mere had some sort of anxiety attack." Julia was quiet for a minute.

"You okay?" She said finally.

"Yeah. Fine. Mere's the one we should be worried about."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Why do you keep asking?"

"I was just thinking that it must've shaken you up a bit."

"I guess. But, really, I'm fine."

"You've said that three times in the last minute and I still don't believe you."

"It was a little scary." Brian admitted. Julia nodded and he continued, "But, you know, I calmed her down and we came back. Everything's going to be okay."

"Okay." Julia smiled then continued, "If you ever need to talk—"

"Mama Julia's always here." Brian interrupted.

"Yeah." Brian glanced around and saw Lauren race across the parking lot with Joe on her heels, "Gotta go." Julia joked, "I have a daycare to run."

**A/N- Hope you enjoyed it! I don't know anything about panic attacks so I hope I wrote that okay. More Breredith to come. Also some Joime and some more Dylanise coming up. Review and I'll love you five-ever! **


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